Welcoming Depression into the Church [Guest Post]

Last updated on: October 30, 2014 at 11:59 am By Leah Libresco

This is a guest post by Christian H of The Thinking Grounds, and is appearing here as part of our symposium on Loving Parishioners in their Particularity – discussing how the church community can focus its approach on serving people in different life circumstances. In the US, about 3 to 5% of people—averaged over age, sex, etc.—have depression, and about 17% will have depression or have had depression. (I’m not American, but I imagine the statistics are comparable in most WEIRD countries.) Church-goers might not... Read more

Saying Hello Under the Shadow of Street Harrassment

Last updated on: October 29, 2014 at 5:10 pm By Leah Libresco

This post is part of a symposium on Loving Parishioners in their Particularity — discussing how the church community can focus its approach on serving people in different life circumstances. In partnership with Hollaback!, Shoshana B. Roberts walked silently around NYC for 10 hours, with a confederate taping the things men said to her. Predictably, she is now receiving rape threats for creating the video below. I can certainly attest that her experience matches mine — I got several of these kinds of... Read more

Loving Parishioners in their Particularity [Symposium Index]

Last updated on: November 12, 2014 at 6:55 pm By Leah Libresco

Kat Fernandez of The Crescat wrote recently about the experience of feeling ignored by the church as a single mother. Especially during the Synod on the family, she felt invisible, except, sometimes as a warning: Single parents work all day, and spend all evening taking care of our children, so we don’t have the time or resources to rally on our own behalf; in fact, we shouldn’t have to. We shouldn’t be protesting and writing articles on the internet about... Read more

7QT: Disease Fighters, State Dividers, and Programming

Last updated on: October 24, 2014 at 1:13 am By Leah Libresco

— 1 — Heads up, New York City (or nearabouts) readers! Eve Tushnet, author of Gay and Catholic, is coming your way! She’s doing a talk and book signing at First Things and I recommend her (if you’re nearby) and her book (to everyone). I’ll do a full review later, but, in the meantime, here’s what I said in my Amazon review: Saying someone has a vocation to singleness is about as helpful as an atheist, when asked about their philosophy, saying... Read more

Avoiding Rape-Adjacent Sex

Last updated on: October 22, 2014 at 2:43 pm By Leah Libresco

I’ve seen a bunch of pieces about California’s proposed Yes-Means-Yes law (which only applies to public college disciplinary hearing, not criminal standards), saying that the proposed law, requiring affirmative consent, isn’t realistic. Sex is too ambiguous for students to be confident, in any given hookup, whether they’re having kosher sex or committing rape in the eyes of the law. I do believe them that there’s plenty of sex happening now, that isn’t experienced as rape by either partner, that doesn’t meet the... Read more

The Ahistorical Pharisee [Pope Francis Bookclub]

Last updated on: October 21, 2014 at 5:28 pm By Leah Libresco

In 2014, I’m reading and blogging through Pope Francis/Cardinal Bergoglio’s Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. Every Monday, I’ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you’re welcome to peruse them all and/or read along. The most striking line I found in this week’s meditation from Pope Francis came as he discussed the righteous Pharisee (the one from Luke 18:9-14). Prayer is born out of history and life. To pray is to reread in the light of faith... Read more

7QT: Community, Codes, and Canadian Smugglers

Last updated on: October 17, 2014 at 7:34 am By Leah Libresco

— 1 — Exciting news, everyone! Eve Tushnet’s first book, Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith is out now! First of all, if you’ve been spending any time reading the Synod relatio and all the breatheless commentary thereof, may I recommend that you try reading this book instead? Eve’s book is about one-third memoir and two-thirds thoughtful reflections on what vocations of self-gift and love make sense to offer to queer people (and other Catholics who are looking... Read more

Gradualism in the Gym and the Bedroom

Last updated on: October 16, 2014 at 5:16 pm By Leah Libresco

A number of responses written to the recent Synod have been focused on the merits and drawbacks of a gradualist approach to sin and error. Gradualism is usually understood as asking people to make small changes, as they try to come back into communion with the church, even if that means praising people for making a change that still involves a serious sin, just one that’s smaller in degree than their old habit. It’s a way of making sure you’re... Read more

Update on Vaccination/Fundraising Drive!

Last updated on: October 16, 2014 at 1:06 am By Leah Libresco

Yowza, you guys! One week ago I asked you to let me know if you’d gotten a flu shot and, in return, I promised to make a donation for every needle jab and mist poof that you guys had gone through in the name of herd immunity. I promised you that I’d donate $5 per vaccination to the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (one of GiveWell’s top-rated medical charities). That way, the local good we’re doing, by building up herd immunity in... Read more

Minimizing the Weight of Mercy [Pope Francis Bookclub]

Last updated on: October 14, 2014 at 4:05 pm By Leah Libresco

In 2014, I’m reading and blogging through Pope Francis/Cardinal Bergoglio’s Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. Every Monday, I’ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you’re welcome to peruse them all and/or read along. In this week’s chapter, Pope Francis discusses Job and says that, once Job entered into the depth of his suffering, Job was uniquely ready to address God, if only because his need went beyond what the wise men of his community could answer. Pope... Read more